Three US citizens released after years of detention in China return to the US
Three American citizens who were freed after years of detention in China have returned to the US, according to a US official.
According to an administration official who spoke to NBC News on Thursday (local time), the three—Mark Swidan, Kai Li, and John Leung—returned to the United States via Lackland Air Force Base, which is a component of Joint Base San Antonio in Texas.
The three Americans are headed back to the United States and will soon be reunited with their families for the first time in many years, according to a statement released Wednesday by a National Security Council (NSC) official.
Chinese businessman Kai Li of Long Island and Texas businessman Mark Swidan were “wrongly detained” by the Chinese government, according to the US authorities, according to the Voice of America.
According to The New York Times, Xu Yanjun, an intelligence official with China’s Ministry of State Security, may be among the Chinese people freed in return for the three American citizens. As stated by NBC. The prisoner swap arrangement also includes Ji Chaoqun, a Chinese American who obtained citizenship via military service, in addition to Xu Yanjun.
John Kamm, the head of the San Francisco-based human rights group Dui Hua Foundation, was reported by the NYT as saying: “This shows that they not only want to give Joe Biden a parting gift, but also send a signal to Donald Trump that important concessions may be made in the future.”
Xu Yanjun, a Chinese intelligence operative receiving a 20-year term after being caught in Brussels in 2018 and extradited to the United States in a spectacular F.B.I. operation, was reported by NYT, citing two US officials.
According to the NYT, President Joe Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping spoke about a possible prisoner exchange at a global conference in Peru earlier this month.
According to the news site, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken contacted the three Americans while they were returning to the United States and while he was traveling back to Washington from a diplomatic visit in Rome. Blinken regularly pressured Wang Yi, his Chinese counterpart, to free all Americans who had been unlawfully held at talks earlier this year in New York and Vientiane, Laos.
According to the White House, Biden has now assisted in securing the release of over 70 Americans that the US believed were unlawfully incarcerated abroad.
